Raavan – Rahman’s Big Yawn!!

Listening to the songs of Mani Ratnam’s “Raavan” gave me the feeling that AR Rahman was too tired to create anything new and original for Mani Sir this time around. And I think part of the blame lies with the ace director as well, for letting his world-famous music director take things for granted. Seriously, when was the last time a Mani Ratnam film featured music that was accessible to the “Mango People”? I think “Yuva” came the closest, with its “Khuda Hafiz“, “Badal” and “Dhakka Laga Bukka“.

Rahman’s last truly accessible score was also about two years ago, with “Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na“. Making classy music doesn’t always translate to making music that can be heard repeatedly. And that seems to be becoming a problem for AR Rahman, IMHO. It is hard to believe that he can create cacophonies like “Maiyya Maiyya“, “Ek Lo Ek Muft” (from Guru), “Shano Shano” (from Yuvraaj) and “Chiggy Wiggy” (from Blue) and still get away with it. I guess, he gets his redemptions from the “Fiqraanaas“, “Rehnumaas” and “Aye Hairathes” that he creates and keeps us spellbound.

But I digress. “Raavan” has music that can put me to sleep. Except for “Beera” and “Behne De“, I do not find a single song that I would put on repeat mode while driving. And even with “Beera“, it is Rahman’s experimentation with different beats that makes the song bearable!! What truly breaks my heart is because of Rahman’s excessive usage of orchestration and his infrequent penchant for making loud wierd music, even Gulzar’s poetry is turned into something trite. You hardly get to hear Gulzar Saab’s poetry in songs like “Thok De Killi” where the music simply overshadows the voices…and irritates the hell out of me.

The first highly anticipated soundtrack of the year has been a huge disappointment for me. And we are already approaching mid-year. Sigh!! Time for me to wake up from the “Raavan” slumber and get a fresh cup of coffee…simply in anticipation of some better musical times to come in 2010.